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Article: Representing death-sentence appellants.(challenges to lawyers in appealing death penalty cases)
- Article from:
- Journal of Appellate Practice and Process
- Article date:
- September 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I. INTRODUCTION
Most of the nations which share our political and cultural traditions have done away with the death penalty. There was a period during the middle of the twentieth century when executions in the United States became less and less frequent, and some thought that the death penalty would become a thing of the past here too. Then there came an abrupt turnabout with widespread belief that crime was getting out of control and that the law should "get tough," so death sentences were pronounced more often. When the Supreme Court made it clear thirty years ago that most, if not all, existing death-sentence statutes had constitutional infirmities, (1) quite ...